In many parts of the world, such as in developing countries, there are no established standards for representation of postal addresses. This can lead to confusion, non-uniform representation and unnecessary duplication of address entries in databases.
Existing data management and address cleansing tools help organizations ensure that their strategic systems, including data warehouses, deliver accurate, complete information to business users across the enterprise. Equipped with trusted information, organizations can make more timely and better informed decisions. Existing tools include for example a graphical user interface (GUI) and capabilities that can be customized into specific business rules, offer some control over international names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, email addresses, and other descriptive fields. Existing tools are designed to discover relationships among database entries in an enterprise and/or Internet environment, both in batch mode and in real-time. Using existing tools, companies hope to gain access to accurate, consistent, consolidated views of any individual or business entity and its relationships.